


i hear that your old flame is a pure breed (the stand up and walk out on me remix)

by lanyon



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Animal Transformation, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-02
Updated: 2013-06-02
Packaged: 2017-12-13 16:59:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/826647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanyon/pseuds/lanyon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An experiment goes wrong and Steve is left with puppy consciousness and a strong attachment to Bucky.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i hear that your old flame is a pure breed (the stand up and walk out on me remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [a little help from my friends](https://archiveofourown.org/works/723240) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 



> +Thanks to beardsley for permission to remix her wonderful _a little help from my friends_.  
>  +Title from Tori Amos and the Beatles.  
> +Easing back into writing so I'm a bit rusty. Forgiiiiiive me.

“ _What_ is the meaning of this?” Bucky’s voice is a little strangled, a little less measured than he would like, but it’s not everyday that he finds his arms full of Steve Rogers, who’s clinging to him desperately and who seems to be snuffling at his neck.

Tony looks at Bruce who looks at Jane who looks at the ceiling.

They all look at Bucky when Bucky squeaks but, in his defence, Steve’s teeth have now latched onto the skin of his neck. That’s certainly new.

“There was a thing-” says Bruce.

“A dog, actually-” says Jane.

“Cap kind of snuck up on us,” says Tony. He waves a hand. “You know how he is about animal testing.”

“With good reason,” says Clint. “You turned him into a - _mmph_ -” Tony clamps his hand over Clint’s mouth and smiles at Bucky, so brightly that Bucky isn’t remotely reassured.

“What happened?” Bucky will keep asking until he gets an answer. If he’s flushed, it’s because he can’t quite ignore the heat of Steve’s body or, wow, that’s Steve’s tongue. Bucky slips his arm around Steve’s waist and tries to guide Steve away, just a little, but Steve lets out a low grumble.

“We were experimenting with transfer of consciousness,” says Tony, scuffing his foot against the floor. 

“Tony wanted to make Dummy more appealing,” says Bruce.

“I think Dummy’s quite appealing enough,” says Bucky and the robot in question whirrs peacefully. It appears to be standing guard over a sleeping puppy. “You didn’t hurt the dog, did you?”

“What? Of _course_ not,” says Tony. “We have some codes of conduct, you know.”

Perhaps it’s something in Tony’s tone but Steve suddenly lifts up his head and _growls_ at Tony. “ _No_ ,” he says.

Bucky doesn’t have time to feel relieved that Steve appears to have retained the power of speech when Bruce sighs. 

“He doesn’t seem to like it when we argue.” 

“Or when one of us tries to leave the room,” says Jane.

Steve’s face is buried against Buckys neck again but he’s growling now. It’s almost instinct for Bucky to run his hand down Steve’s back soothingly. 

“So,” says Bucky. “Reverse it.”

“Well,” says Tony.

“There’s a slight snag,” says Bruce.

“It may take some time,” says Jane.

“None of us are actually magicians,” says Tony. 

“Or biologists,” says Clint. Bucky’s not even sure why he’s here. He takes a deep breath. He’s not sure it helps.

“Then get in Strange and get in Morse and sort this out.” 

Bucky tries to push Steve away but Steve clings tighter.

“Buddy?” says Bucky. “Cap? Wanna come home with me?”

Steve grumbles something unintelligible. 

“He _really_ doesn’t like it when-” starts Jane. She clamps her mouth shut when Steve nods against Bucky’s throat. 

“Okay,” says Bucky, curling his hand around Steve’s neck. With as much dignity as he can muster, given the circumstances, he eyes the miscreant scientists. “Fix this.” 

Captain America apparently has all the instincts of a herding dog and he’s imprinted on Bucky. Bucky figures that they should stay in the Tower to be close at hand for when Strange and Morse manage to undo this mess (and Bucky has to believe that it can be undone). Steve whines when Bucky steps into the elevator and he refuses, point blank, to follow him in, pacing anxiously outside. 

“No,” he says. “No, it smells funny. It’s small and it smells funny.”

Bucky makes a mental note never to ask Stark what might make his elevators smell funny and he squares his shoulders. “Steve, get in here.”

“No.”

“Steve, come on. We need to go home.”

“Smells funny.” Steve digs his heels in. “Stairs.”

“Steve, there are ninety flights-”

There are actually ninety-three flights of stairs and Steve appears to have boundless energy, rushing ahead of Bucky and then rushing back. 

“Oh my god, Bucky, this is my favourite.”

“I thought _I_ was your favourite.” It’s true. Steve said as much about thirty-three floors ago. 

“Oh, you are, you _are_ ,” says Steve and he smiles at Bucky so blindingly that Bucky blushes. Which is ridiculous, given that Steve has all the enthusiasm and attention span of a puppy right now. 

When they get to the floor that they share on the rare occasions they stay in the Tower, Steve becomes even more restless, stalking from room to room. 

“C’mon, Steve, sit down. You’re making me dizzy. C’mon, down boy.”

Steve snorts. “Bedtime,” he says. 

“Bedtime for you?” It’s 9pm. 

“ _Bedtime_.” Steve comes over to Bucky and tugs at his arm, insistently. 

“Bossy, aren’t you?” Bucky decides not to admit that he’s kind of wiped after the lengthy vertical ascent. Enhanced or not, he’s pretty sure he’s going to feel it in the morning.

“Bedtime,” says Steve again, clearly satisfied when Bucky relents. 

“Steve? You know this is my room, right?”

“Yes,” says Steve, pushing Bucky onto the bed. “You’re my favourite.”

“Okay, buddy. I got that.”

It turns out that there is nothing more uncomfortable than trying to sleep while Captain America is wrapped around him. It’s sweet and chaste and affectionate and awakens in Bucky all the emotions, pure and otherwise, that he has manfully repressed for years. Somehow, Bucky does sleep, although it’s fitful and interrupted by Steve’s jerking limbs and mutters. Eventually, at some ungodly hour, Bucky has to untangle himself and go to the bathroom. 

He tries to give himself a stern talking to but his clothes smell like Steve and his skin smells like Steve and Steve doesn’t have a damn clue what he’s doing to Bucky because he’s a _dog_. 

Bucky locks the door and turns on the shower and he’s lathered up and jerking off when the door rattles on his hinges. 

“Bucky.”

“I’ll - uh - be out in a minute, Steve,” says Bucky.

The door rattles again. “ _Bucky_ , no.” Steve lets out a mournful sound. “Are you okay? I can’t get in. _Bucky_ -”

Bucky sighs. He looks down at his cock, leaking and unrepentant. “Sorry, pal,” he murmurs. He turns off the shower and wraps a towel around his waist and then shrugs into a bathrobe and hopes against all hope that Steve’s sense of smell hasn’t been improved by his newfound canine sensibilities.

“Okay, buddy, what’s wrong?” he asks as he opens the door. Steve is sitting on the ground, staring up at him disconsolately.

“You were gone,” says Steve, plaintively. “You were gone and I didn’t know when you’d be back.”

Bucky rubs his face tiredly. “You wanna use the bathroom?”

Steve recoils and his face scrunches up. “No baths. Baths are yucky.”

“Sure thing,” says Bucky and Steve follows him into the bathroom. “Cap, I’m gonna need some privacy to, uh, get changed?”

Steve whines. He honest-to-god whines. Together with the puppy dog eyes, he renders Bucky pretty much powerless to say no. All Bucky can do is hope that Steve has very little memory of this. 

“Turn around.” Bucky puts his hands on his hips. “Steve. _Turn around_.”

Huffing slightly, Steve does as he’s told, which is possibly a first in twenty-four hours, and Bucky quickly pulls on a SHIELD uniform, in the hopes that its restrictive nature might have a compressing effect on certain traitorous parts of his anatomy. 

He checks his phone and swears softly. Apparently Captain America having the consciousness of a codependent puppy does not constitute enough of an emergency for Stephen Strange and Bobbi Morse to hurry back to New York. When he looks up, Steve is looking at him with evident concern. 

“Don’t worry,” says Bucky and he instinctively reaches out and cups Steve’s cheek. Steve’s foot thumps against the side of the bed. Bucky resolves not to think about that. “How does breakfast sound?”

Steve thinks for a moment. “Breakfast is my favourite,” he says, with one of those brilliant smiles. 

“Sure it is, buddy. Sure it is.” Bucky is helpless and he can only smile back. Steve leans against him, wiggling slightly, trying to wag a non-existent tail. 

“But _you’re_ my favourite, too,” Steve says, all loyalty. 

Bucky puts his arms around Steve, much to Steve’s evident ecstasy. “I hope you’re gonna remember that when we get you back to rights, Cap.”

“I will, I _will_. You’re always my favourite. Smell good. Is that bacon?”

“You betcha. We’re gonna have bacon and then play fetch in Stark’s workshop till this gets fixed. Sound like a plan?”

Steve nods, his hair hanging over his eyes, and he’s smiling and so carefree that Bucky feels almost guilty for wanting Steve back to normal. It’s strange seeing Steve without his usual burdens, of selflessness and truth and justice, and, aside from his sixty-something-year nap in the ice, he hasn’t had a break. It’s a pretty sad reflection on his life that this (hopefully brief) puppy-minded sojourn is the closest he’s had to a real rest.

“And when this is fixed, we’re going on a vacation, okay?” Bucky says.

Steve nods again and smiles.

“But bacon first?”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] i hear that your old flame is a pure breed (the stand up and walk out on me remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1596671) by [reena_jenkins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/reena_jenkins/pseuds/reena_jenkins)




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